Last week Trudy Rubin, The Philadelphia Inquirer foreign correspondent, compared the bombing of Guernica with the destruction in Mariupol, Ukraine. Guernica, the Basque town destroyed by German planes during the Spanish Civil War, was immortalized by Picasso in his monumental painting by the same name and was the subject of an earlier post here. Also […]
Lost in Translation
I have to admit it, I am “enamoradiza.” I check Google to see what the meaning is in English: “lovesick, person who falls in love easily, amorous, besotted.” Who in the world says that? Let’s agree that something is lost in translation, but I think I know how I became this way. I don’t remember […]
Zooming Around
I know that not everyone agrees, but I love Zoom. I can attest that I have done it in every room of my home. Oh, no, wait a moment, I used to say that about sex. Oh well, what do you expect? Life changes… I had never attended church every Sunday, but now I look […]
Madrilenian Stew
A Madrilenian stew is to Madrid what a Valencian paella is to Valencia, a national dish that defines an entire region of Spain. Of course, like the paella, the “cocido madrileño” has become ubiquitous, particularly during the winter months. When I was growing up it wasn’t so popular or fancy. My mother made it often, […]
Woody Allen’s Spain
It seems that Woody Allen is to Spain what Almodóvar is in the States. Spaniards love the American director’s work while they are so critical of their own filmmaker. Suffice it to say that Parallel Mothers (2021) was not chosen to represent Spain at this year’s Oscars, even when it’s nominated for best director and […]
Almodóvar, Again
I anticipated seeing Almodóvar’s last film, Parallel Mothers (2021), for almost three years since his last film, The Human Voice (2020) with Tilda Swinton notwithstanding. Needless to say, I was at the Ritz Five on the first afternoon of its Philadelphia “premier.” Once you get over the awkward title (wouldn’t “All About my Daughter” had […]